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Below is a full transcript of this video presentation. It has not been edited or reviewed for accuracy or readability.

Julie Stackhouse: So as we talk about a family balance sheet, what a family saves, what it owns, and what it owes, it is a bit distinct from some of the other measures of wealth that we often talk about such as earnings or income. We cannot fully understand the health and consequences of family balance sheets both today and going forward without closely examining the topic of today which is the increase in student loans.

I know there are a number of students in the audience, and I want to assure you I am a believer in student loans. Some of you have heard this before, but I grew up in a very low income family and it was only with the help of a good financial package, including a lot of student loans, but I was able to attend college and ultimately to build my career here at the Federal Reserve. It's taken me to a much different level than where my parents and my family were at when I was very young.

But taking on that level of debt is a serious life event and it has to be done with thoughtfulness. So that means we must have a balanced approach and we must hold candid discussions, discussions on what's working which is the promise; what's not working, the perils; and the alternatives to financing higher education in the United States, the future.

So here's what our afternoon will look like. We'll start with Rohit Chopra's keynote in just a moment. We're so thrilled that he can be here to join us. And after that, we'll hear very briefly from four individuals whose institutions are providing real and practical advice for students and families who are either managing student loans or who are about to enter college and making a decision about student loans.

After that first hour, we'll take a dessert break. I knew you were wondering where dessert was after lunch; so we didn't forget that. And then we'll come back and hear from our research panel who will describe what's going on in student loans both locally here in the St. Louis area but nationally as well. And then we'll take one final short break and we'll head into our closing panel on the future of financing higher education in the United States. And we gave you a great lunch. I hope you haven't made dinner plans. We plan to give you dinner as well. We'll have a lovely dinner reception beginning at 5:30 today.

So with that brief introduction, it's my pleasure to introduce Rohit Chopra who leads the work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For those that don't follow the government-type acronyms, that's CFPB for short. I'm sure you'll hear that a few times today. And Rohit's work is on behalf of students and young Americans.

In 2011, he was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury as the CFPB's student loan ombudsman which was a new position created under the Dodd-Frank Act. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Harvard College and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. So we are thrilled to have Rohit with us today.

And we understand he doesn't say yes to all Fed things so we actually feel like this is a special treat for us to have you with us today. And we're really thrilled to collaborate with the CFPB on this important issue. Last year we featured your colleagues on the issue of the unbanked and underbanked in the United States and we also organized listening sessions for the CFPB.

Our team today is working with you in bringing the student loan information; so thank you for doing that for us. So Rohit will speak for about 25 minutes. During that time, we'll be webcasting the session live to all the many listeners that are out there and following the session, he'll take a few questions from the audience.